Without Thinking
by princ3ssf33t
Summary: They should have been wary of a trap. But now it was sprung, and she could only hope she reached him in time.


It was without thinking that she jumped into the water after him. Without removing any of her weapons, something that she would have normally done if there were time, she dived after his sinking figure.

She should have realized that it was a setup the moment the tip came in. They had been after the head of this smuggling ring for weeks without any end in sight. Every time they thought that they were about to spring the trap and capture the guy, he managed to slip through their fingers into the night. For weeks, the colonel and his team grew increasingly frustrated as their man walked free.

So, when the tip that he would be at the river dock at sundown, the colonel didn't hesitate to announce that he was going to be there to ensure that their man was caught.

They hadn't realized that while they were setting a trap to spring for their perp, they had sprung the trap that was set for them.

As soon as they walked into the dock's warehouse, they were surrounded and pinned down from all sides. Somewhere in the chaos of the fight, First Lieutenant Hawkeye was separated from her superior and pinned behind some wooden crates. Unable to move without a spray of bullets falling down around her, she could only watch from the corner of her eye as Colonel Mustang fought against their target.

He had been well informed. Their man knew that Colonel Mustang wouldn't go in right away with his alchemy, that it was saved for the rare occasion when things turned dicey. Truth was that Mustang preferred not to use his flame alchemy in a fight, not after what happened in Ishval. And rather than risk Colonel Mustang being given the opportunity to determine the situation would require the use of his ignition gloves, their man eliminated them as a possibility in the first place.

The giant deluge of water over all of them was a clear indicator of a trap.

And they had sprung it.

Lieutenant Hawkeye could have cursed herself for allowing her guard to drop so low. Because after that first downpour, everything had gone to hell. Their formation had scattered as soon as the bullets started raining down on them, desperate for any cover they could find. And she had lost sight of her charge somewhere in the chaos. But she could not afford to look, not when her attention was diverted to staying out of the path of stray bullets.

She wasn't sure what had happened. But she caught a glimpse of the dark hair of her colonel near the edge of the dock, engaging hand to hand with their target for the evening. He was holding his own, and for half a second, she was glad of the rigorous training they had gone through for the military.

But Colonel Mustang was so focused on what his fight in front of him, he wasn't paying attention to his feet. He attempted to take a step back, and his foot knocked into a mooring bollard. It threw his whole balance off, allowing for their target to land a solid punch to the face.

And Colonel Mustang fell into the dark black water below.

Without regard to the firing guns behind her, or the perp that seized his opportunity to get away while everyone was distracted, Lieutenant Hawkeye ran to the edge of the dock and dove in after him. Colonel Mustang was a capable swimmer, he had proved that while he was still an apprentice underneath her father, but to be dealt a blow like that before going under, it was likely he was disoriented and wouldn't know up from down.

The water was a cold shock to her system. Air escaped from her lungs before she even knew it happened. Forcing the remaining air to stay in her lungs, Hawkeye searched frantically in the dark water for an even darker head of hair or the dark blue of his uniform. It would be useless to look for the gold on his shoulders, he'd been wearing his coat.

Methodically her eyes combed the water as she swam lower into the depths. He couldn't have sunk that far could he?

Her lungs were beginning to protest the lack of oxygen. Where was he? He couldn't have sunk much lower, could he? He wasn't that heavy. Although with the added weight of his full uniform, it was possible that the waterlogged wool dragged him down faster.

Dammit. Where was he?

Catching a glimpse of shining silver, Hawkeye reached for it. If it was the pin on the collar of Mustang's jacket, then her nightmare could be over. Her fingers brushed against the stiff material of the jacket's collar and she gripped it tightly before kicking her way up to the surface. She didn't pause to think about the firefight that may still be raging up there, but her lungs craved air.

Breaking into the dark night air, her gasps were greedy as she inhaled as much as she could as fast as she could. His head lolled back to rest on her shoulder, his black hair clinging to her neck. She swam with one arm as she attempted to make her way to the dock and to keep her supervisor above the water.

"Hawkeye?! Hawkeye where are you?" Havoc called into the dark water at approximately where she and the colonel had entered the water.

The current must have taken them downstream further than Hawkeye had expected.

"Havoc!" She shouted before a small wave slapped water into her mouth. She coughed as her lungs expelled the water. "Grab him!"

Havoc was quick to run to the portion of the dock Hawkeye was making her way to, and reached down to grab Colonel Mustang under the arms. He hauled the colonel up onto the dock without any assistance from Hawkeye in the water. Havoc laid their superior officer flat against the dock and began to check vitals. Hawkeye pulled herself out of the cold water and crouched on the opposite side of the colonel as Havoc.

"He's not breathing."

There was no disguising the shock in Havoc's voice. The colonel hadn't been under the water for more than a few minutes, Hawkeye had been quick to follow behind him to save his life.

Just like she had only a few minutes before, Hawkeye didn't think before acting. While it was still a new technique the military implemented, Hawkeye began chest compressions. After the regulated set of compressions, she tipped the colonel's head back to the proper position, pinched his nose, sealed her mouth over his, and breathed the oxygen into his lungs. His chest rose and fell with her breaths. But didn't continue.

Hawkeye was back to chest compressions. Other members of the squad that had accompanied them started to gather around; they had apprehended everyone that was still in the area. Hawkeye began to scold Mustang. Everyone pretended that there were tears in her eyes.

"Don't you dare. You can't die like this. Not yet."

She tilted his head back and created the vacuum between their mouths again. She forced her breath into his lungs once before he started choking and coughing water up out of his lungs. Everyone who had been crowding in took a couple steps back to give the space and air he would need.

Hawkeye helped turn him on his side as he expelled the water.

"It's a good thing Hawkeye was there to save your ass boss, the irony of the Flame Alchemist being drowned would live longer than any achievements you did," Havoc remarked, settling back on his haunches. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a new cigarette from the pack there and put it in his mouth.

Despite his violent coughing, Colonel Mustang managed to shoot Havoc a hard glare.

"Havoc, would you-?" Hawkeye started.

"Get a doctor? Yes sir." He stood, and began herding the few stragglers around them away. There was other work that still needed to be done.

The other men involved with the raid hadn't even gotten out of earshot before Colonel Mustang began protesting that he didn't need a doctor to look over him through his coughs. Most of the water had been coughed out of his lungs and was splattered against the dock, but his body was still getting the last few droplets of water out. He pulled himself up to a sitting position and rubbed his face, tenderly around his bleeding nose. Stupidly, he attempted to look at the damage their target had inflicted when he decked Mustang.

"Do you think it's broken?" He asked.

"That remains unclear sir, but I'm sure the doctor will be happy to take a look at it if you ask him t-too," Hawkeye responded, cool and professional as she ever was. If it weren't for the slight chatter of her teeth at the end of her sentence, one wouldn't have been able to tell she had just come from the cold water of the river.

Colonel Mustang turned his attention from his nose to his shivering lieutenant. Although she was trying to appear as if she weren't affected by the cold water.

"Lieutenant," he began. There was a softness in his voice that most would deem uncharacteristic of the famous Flame Alchemist.

"I'm fine," Hawkeye shot him down before he could continue on with that sentence.

He gave her a stern look, which was promptly ruined when he started coughing again.

"Just answer me one thing, Lieutenant-" he coughed again, "-was it you who's mouth was on mine, or was it Havoc's?" The beginnings of a smirk were beginning at the corner of his mouth.

Hawkeye restrained the sigh that wanting to make its way out of her mouth. If he was already making jokes, he would be alright.

"If it was mine?" As relieved as she was that he was most likely going to be alright, it wasn't going to stop her from exercising the dry humor she was known for in her youth.

"Then I would say that you taste like heaven."

The smirk was in full force now. Hawkeye quickly scanned the area for anyone who might have overheard the comment. It was most certainly inappropriate for a commanding officer to be saying to his subordinate. Still, the lightness in her stomach blossomed. A small smile peaked through her professional mask.

"What if it was Havoc?"

The smirk disappeared from his face and frowned. He glanced at her up and down and muttered about chain-smoking. Hawkeye's smiled widened and rested a hand on his shoulder. It wouldn't appear to be much to someone looking in from the outside, but after the many years they'd been together, the meaning they were attempting to relay would come across loud and clear. His eyes focused on her hand before her face.

"I understand, Lieutenant."

Hawkeye nodded and dropped her hand to her side. She looked up and straightened her posture at the sight of Havoc returning with a medic at his side. The medic wasted no time evaluating the colonel on his health and the lieutenant's at the colonel's insistence. The medic passed them both with a clean bill of health but warned them to get out of the wet clothes as soon as they could, lest they wish to develop hypothermia. Both afflicted parties agreed to his terms.

After Havoc and the doctor left to take care of other business, Hawkeye helped Mustang get to his feet. He leaned against her heavily for a moment before standing on his own two feet. He tugged at the collar of his coat for a moment, before that smirk of his returned to his face.

"It's good to know that I was right about you," he said.

"Sir?" Hawkeye didn't know what he was talking about this time.

Colonel Mustang leaned in close to her ear and whispered. "Havoc hasn't had the training in CPR yet, Lieutenant. I know it was you."

When he pulled back, he must have seen the dumbstruck look on her face because he started to laugh while he walked away. He only managed to walk a few steps laughing the way he was before he had to stop completely and clutch his ribs. Hawkeye's lips twitched and she walked forward to help her superior back to the vehicles.

She was glad the darkness disguised the blush that had appeared on her cheeks.

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 **A/N: Prompt was "You taste like heaven." Please review.**


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